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It's really impossible to give you what you are asking for as the word (legal) is the problem in CA when it come to weapon laws. What CA bans is Active Night Vision (AN/PAS-4) with an IR beam, but allows Passive Night Vision (AN/PVS-1 , 2, 3, & 4) or an Image Intensifier/"Starlight Scope", by the letter of the law. The problem is with the enforcement of that law in CA. Most LEO's know nothing about how night vision works, let alone the difference between Active & Passive.
At a gun show table, a few of the LEO's working security started hassling me about my display. They claimed the PVS-1 mounted on my M-14 could be a "sniper scope". One of them said the green light that came out of the eyepiece was "a projected IR light source". My buddy ran over to borrow a book on night vision from John "the professor", so the LEO's could see a pic (T-3 carbine) of what CA in fact banned. It took a bit to get them to understand that a "sniper or snooper scope" requires an IR light source while a "Starlight Scope" works with ambient light alone. IR lights were not common in the 1960's (when the sniper scope was banned), as they are today. LEO's do not like anything weapon related that they do not understand. They also do not like to be reminded of their ignorance.
Here's another one: a kid got busted for pointing a small laser pointer at a LE cruiser. He was arrested & charged with a felony. The Officer or DA used duct tape to show how it could be mounted to a weapon. They got him to plead guilty. Remember that some older camcorders work in IR & use a remote that "projects an IR light source". Duct tape one on your Glock & you may have a dreaded "sniper scope". Don't worry, as I'm sure that CA will just ban in the future any night vision that can be mounted to a weapon. Not very likely to happen, but you never can know in CA. It costs LEO's nothing to arrest you, but effective (not a worthless public defender who works for the DA) legal defense is very costly. Even if you win, you cannot collect damages, as you can in civil court.
At a gun show table, a few of the LEO's working security started hassling me about my display. They claimed the PVS-1 mounted on my M-14 could be a "sniper scope". One of them said the green light that came out of the eyepiece was "a projected IR light source". My buddy ran over to borrow a book on night vision from John "the professor", so the LEO's could see a pic (T-3 carbine) of what CA in fact banned. It took a bit to get them to understand that a "sniper or snooper scope" requires an IR light source while a "Starlight Scope" works with ambient light alone. IR lights were not common in the 1960's (when the sniper scope was banned), as they are today. LEO's do not like anything weapon related that they do not understand. They also do not like to be reminded of their ignorance.
Here's another one: a kid got busted for pointing a small laser pointer at a LE cruiser. He was arrested & charged with a felony. The Officer or DA used duct tape to show how it could be mounted to a weapon. They got him to plead guilty. Remember that some older camcorders work in IR & use a remote that "projects an IR light source". Duct tape one on your Glock & you may have a dreaded "sniper scope". Don't worry, as I'm sure that CA will just ban in the future any night vision that can be mounted to a weapon. Not very likely to happen, but you never can know in CA. It costs LEO's nothing to arrest you, but effective (not a worthless public defender who works for the DA) legal defense is very costly. Even if you win, you cannot collect damages, as you can in civil court.
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